Wahhabi Extremism
Inside Saudi

BY KAVANWAL MD



Wahhabis are the most extreme groups out of the Sunni branch of Islam, and even though the Saudi government has made attempts to sweep out those who offend those of other beliefs or cultures, the very real threat of the extreme belief and practices lingers.

Sworn to rid the world of its “impurities”, the Wahhabi branch of Islam, or Salafi as the Saudis prefer to call themselves, is a sect or movement within Islam that is most prevalent in Saudi Arabia.



Some facts about Saudi Arabia and this movement are as follows:

Wahhabism gives rise to supremacist ideologies due to the belief it is the purest form of Islam, and is the most conservative, violent and hate-propagating faction of all the sects of Islam.

Saudi-American children educated in either the US or in Arabia, are indoctrinated with the teachings of Sheik Saleh Al-Fawzan, a famous and revered religious authority in Saudi Arabia.

It is no secret that a Jihad has been called against Israel and the West, but as Westerners, we do not understand the gravity of the call to war.

Sheik Saleh Al-Fawzan, a famous and revered Wahhabi religious authority in Saudi Arabia, professes: “Jihad will remain as long as there is Islam."(World Net Daily, 2003).

In order to understand what these facts about Saudi Arabia mean, and their impact on our Western culture, the fiction novel, Surreal in Saudi introduces the Arabic mindset through an entertaining, but factual medium. The book, Surreal in Saudi , and it's soon to be released sequel, Awry in Arabia, relay the goings on and perceptions of the Saudi people, and how their culture is perceived by Westerners.

Awry in Arabia
further explains fascinating facts about Saudi culture, but includes and embraces the Westerner's attitudes and biases toward their host country, Saudi Arabia.

After living and working in Saudi Arabia , and being exposed to and being witness to events and regular occurrences most outsiders rarely see, there are many topics of interest.A brief overview of the sects of Islam, Wahhabi tribes being the most familiar, is briefly explained and discussed.

Various groups and organizations invite me, the author, to come and talk aout these subjects at their events and general meetings, or even on radio talk shows.

When discussing Saudi Arabia, Wahhabi perspectives, and other cultural aspects, it is imperative to understand that these discussions are not geared to exploit, belittle or berate the Arab or his religion in any way.

The speeches and radio and/or TV appearances are simply a means to explain the thinking of the general Arabic population, which differs greatly from Western thinking. My knowledge is based on my real-life experiences and unique exposure to the culture.

How can some Wahhabis be so violent? I believe it begins like this:

In some traditional and strict tribes, the Saudi child is forbidden creative play. The lack of use of imagination and the constant reinforcement of hateful propaganda leads to training the mind in linear thought, including encouragement of martyrdom as a viable “career choice”.

A document published by the Higher Committee for Educational Policy in Saudi Arabia in 1995 states: “The students are also taught to understand Islam in a correct manner, how to plant and spread Islam throughout the world, and how "to fight spiritually and physically for the sake of Allah."

The inability to conceptualize due to constant inundation of what is “pure and correct” and these one-way thought patterns bear credence to absolute right and absolute wrong, fueling the way for vigilante justice in the face of a perceived threat. As stated in a school textbook, Islamic Education, Grade 10, (2002, pp. 111) p. 69 (State school) “Jihad is honor. Inability to perform it is a cause for grief.”

When I was living and working in a Royal Palace in the city of Jeddah on the west coast of Saudi Arabia, I recall life behind palace walls in the prominent household of one particular royal family.

In discussions with young Princes and Princesses, the young men, who were nineteen and twenty at the time and American citizens, boasted they were studying political science in America, with the aspiration of public careers to “set the infidel population in North America straight.”

These American-born, Saudi-American royals have power, money and might, but their loyalties are to Saudi Arabia, the keeper of the Islamic Faith.

My life in the palace was no picnic. Although welcomed by the Royals to care for an elderly high-ranking Princess, the servants shunned me. These Wahhabi women couldn’t comprehend the roles of Western nurses, who were living amongst them. (This story is recanted in the novel, Surreal in Saudi )

--Keep in mind, Wahhabi children are taught from a very young age that anyone outside of Islam is the devil incarnate, yet here the servants were forced to reside with two of “Satan’s handmaids.”

Religious authorities, shouting messages of hate and condemnation from the mosques on a daily basis easily influence the masses, feeding into the hatred, distrust and violence that is almost inherent.

A sense of righteous justice was the motivator for rebellion amongst the servants at the palace where I lived. During my time there, my colleague and I tried to build a bridge and reach out, but when the Princess fell ill, the servants blamed us, shouting accusations of treason.

A desperate need to protect and guard against the evils the nurses brought to them arose, and in my novel, Surreal in Saudi , I tell how I averted a kidnapping and being left to die in the desert.

The Saudi authorities often overlook this type of vigil ante justice. No one is faulted for carrying out an interpretation of Jihad.

The Saudi justice system adheres to Sharia Law. Tore Kjeilen, editor of Editor of Encyclopaedia of the Orient defines Sahria law: “Sharia is the totality of religious, political, social, domestic and private life. Sharia is primarily meant for all Muslims, but applies to a certain extent also for people living inside a Muslim society.”

The severity of Sahria Law inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is no secret. Mutawa are the religious police in Saudi Arabia whose duty is to ensure strict adherence to established codes of conduct.

Matawa attend Madrassas to further indoctrinate themselves in their theology, and devote their lives to the prevention of acts against Allah.

The Committee for The Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice is the English name of the Saudi Arabian government bureaucracy who employ mutawa to enforce Sharia Law.

In Saudi Arabia, the religious police walk the streets with long canes, some carrying sheaths containing long, sharp swords.

They hit women, sometimes slicing them in public with thos long swords and enforce the law as they interpret it.

Some of these Matawa are criminals. They have murdered, raped and committed other violent acts, but because they are Saudis, and Wahhibi of the purest sect and have asked for redemption by devoting the rest of their lives to Allah in reparation for their crimes, they are sent to Matawa school.

Abu Ghraib, as disgusting as it was, pales in comparison to the treatment of people in Saudi prisons, and the Saudis have no right to ‘throw stones’.

Women are arrested for menial crimes—-crimes such as wearing too much make-up, or laughing out loud in public.

This in itself may not be breaking news, but what people don’t know outside of Saudi, is the plight of the some female workers.

In their hierarchal system, Filipinos rank near the bottom of “humaneness.”

If a Philippine national is arrested and accused of prostitution, she is jailed, along with her children, subjected to rape, torture and other brutal crimes.

There is no greater torture than the suffering of one’s child, and for these mothers, the anguish is excruciating.

In the severest form of Wahhabi beliefs, many atrocities are committed, and now, as evidenced by global acts of violence, the outside world is beginning to open her eyes to the extremes of the misguided sects of Wahhabism.



Articles of Interest:

Traditional Arabic Dress for the Arab Man

Condoned Incest

Jobs in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Women: Traditional Dress

Tolerance in America

Book Exerpt: Inside a Saudi Prison

Book Notes on Saudi

Adult Graphic Novel : Facts about Saudi Arabia

Middle East Events : Organ Transplant